Vanadium oxides (V₃O₇.H₂O and VO₂) with different morphologies have been selectively synthesized by a facile hydrothermal approach using glucose as the reducing and structure-directing reagent. The as-obtained V₃O₇.H₂O nanobelts have a length up to several tens of micrometers, width of about 60–150 nm and thickness of about 5–10 nm, while the as-prepared VO₂(B) nanobelts have a length of about 1.0–2.7 𝜇m, width, 80–140 nm and thickness, 2–8 nm. It was found that the quantity of glucose, the reaction temperature and the reaction time had significant influence on the compositions and morphologies of final products. Vanadium oxides with different morphologies were easily synthesized by controlling the concentration of glucose. The formation mechanism was also briefly discussed, indicating that glucose played different roles in synthesizing various vanadium oxides. The phase transition from VO₂(B) to VO₂(M) were investigated and the phase transition temperature of the VO₂(M) appeared at around 68 °C. Furthermore, the electrochemical properties of V₃O₇.H₂O nanobelts, VO₂(B) nanobelts and VO₂(B) nanosheets were investigated and they exhibited a high initial discharge capacity of 296, 247 and 227 mAh/g, respectively.

A novel approach to the fabrication of vanadium carbide encapsulated into carbon nanotube (VC@C) core-shell structured composite by thermal treatment with the precursor V₃O₇.H₂O@C was developed for the first time. The as-obtained VC@C were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Raman spectrum, energydispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX), elemental analysis (EA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT)–(IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET). The results showed that VC@C with core-shell structures could be successfully synthesized at 1000 °C for 2 h. The specific surface area, average pore size and measured pore volume of VC@C were 135.46 m²/g, 4.443 nm and 0.180 cm³/g, respectively indicating that the as-obtained VC@C composite could be used as a mesoporous material. Furthermore, thermal behaviour of the as-obtained VC@C composite in air was investigated by thermogravimetric/differential thermal analyser (TG/DTA). The experimental result revealed that the carbon coated on the surface of VC has high activity with O₂ in air atmosphere.